Alcoholic Drinks: Imports

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the status under the Licensing Act 2003 or the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 of imports from the United States or Europe of alcohol powders.

Lord Bates: The Licensing Act 2003 put in place a robust regime for licensing the sale of alcohol. Section 191 of the Act defines alcohol as “spirits, wine, beer, cider or any other fermented, distilled or spirituous liquor”, and lists some exceptions. The status of products containing alcohol are considered on a case by case basis. Although the Act refers to liquids and this product is sold in solid form, it is intended to be drunk as a liquid.
	The Government is not aware of powdered alcohol being marketed or made available to buy in England and Wales, although we are aware of its sale in other countries. In the event that there is a proposal to market powdered alcohol in England and Wales, the Home Office will make a formal assessment of its legal position.

Asylum: Syria

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government , in the light of the recent assessment by Oxfam, Save the Children, the Refugee Council, Amnesty International and other charities about the number of Syrian refugees who could be resettled in the United Kingdom, whether they will consider increasing the number of Syrian refugees through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme.

Lord Bates: The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme is designed to complement our humanitarian aid efforts and is based on need rather than fulfilling a quota; however, we have said we expect the scheme to help several hundred people over three years, and we remain on track to deliver that commitment.
	This is in addition to our consideration of asylum claims lodged in the UK under our normal rules. Since the crisis began, we have given sanctuary to more than 3,400 Syrian nationals and their dependants. In addition, the UK has been at the forefront of the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, having pledged £700m, making us the second largest bilateral donor.
	We strongly believe that we should continue to focus on aid rather than resettlement as the best way for the UK to maximise our impact, and we therefore have no current plans to expand the VPR scheme.

Asylum: Syria

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to ensure that the family reunification process for Syrian refugees is made as simple and flexible as possible, in line with the recommendations of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights report Syrian Refugees in Europe: What Europe can do to Ensure Protection and Solidarity.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to admit Syrian refugees to the United Kingdom who do not fulfil the requirements of existing family reunification legislation but who have extended family members in the United Kingdom.

Lord Bates: The process for family members who wish to apply to join a refugee family member in the UK is set out in detail on the Home Office website at https://www. gov.uk/settlement-refugee-or-humanitarian -protection/family-reunion. This includes details of the qualifying criteria and the relevant documentary requirements. The Government will consider the recommendations in the Report as part of the next review of the family reunion policy and application process next year.
	Syrian refugees who do not meet the requirements in the Immigration Rules for refugee family reunion may apply under other routes in the Rules, including under Appendix FM, if they have relevant family members in the UK.
	The UK also operates the Mandate refugee scheme which provides a resettlement route for individual refugees who have been recognised by UNHCR and have close family ties with the UK. The UK is only able to consider resettlement applications from refugees who have been referred to us by UNHCR.

Bills

Lord Christopher: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which bills introduced since May 2010 have included any issues of exclusive concern to England and any of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland; and what were those issues for each bill.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Leader of the House of Commons will publish an analysis of legislation relating to England in due course.

British Nationality: Assessments

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many complaints were made about the Life in the United Kingdom citizenship test each month from January 2013 until November 2014.

Lord Bates: This information is not aggregated in national reporting systems and could only be obtained by a disproportionately expensive manual case by case search to collate the data.

Counter-terrorism and Security Bill

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their definition of the data and information to be classed as “any other technical identifier” under the terms of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill; and whether they will provide examples.

Lord Bates: In order to resolve who is, for example, accessing a server of illegal images on the internet, a range of data needs to be retained by internet service providers. The way that an internet service provider identifies their individual customers varies from company to company, depending on how their systems work. An IP address can often be shared by hundreds of people at once – in order to find out which device is accessing the illegal content other data would be required, for example, port numbers (akin to a house number where an IP address is akin to a post code) or MAC addresses (the identifier of the particular computer).These are the types of data that may be used to identify which “other identifier” belongs to the sender or recipient of a communication. The purpose for which these data types are retained is strictly limited by the clause to resolving the sender or recipient of an internet communication – the shorthand for which is IP resolution.
	The IP resolution clauses in the Counter-terrorism and Security Bill will enable a device linked to an IP address to be identified in many circumstances. However further data, excluded by the provisions in this Bill, would be required to resolve them in all circumstances.

Counter-terrorism and Security Bill

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their definition of “Internet Access Service” and “Internet Communications Service” under the terms of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill; and whether they will provide examples.

Lord Bates: An Internet Access Service is a service that provides access to the internet and can include a home broadband connection, mobile internet or publicly available wi-fi. The term internet access already exists in the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 and is well understood by those affected by the legislation.
	An Internet Communications Service is a communications service which takes place on the internet and can include internet telephony, internet email and instant messaging services.

Counter-terrorism and Security Bill

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the logging of an IP address as laid out in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill will enable a device linked to that IP address to be identified.

Lord Bates: In order to resolve who is, for example, accessing a server of illegal images on the internet, a range of data needs to be retained by internet service providers. The way that an internet service provider identifies their individual customers varies from company to company, depending on how their systems work. An IP address can often be shared by hundreds of people at once – in order to find out which device is accessing the illegal content other data would be required, for example, port numbers (akin to a house number where an IP address is akin to a post code) or MAC addresses (the identifier of the particular computer).These are the types of data that may be used to identify which “other identifier” belongs to the sender or recipient of a communication.
	The purpose for which these data types are retained is strictly limited by the clause to resolving the sender or recipient of an internet communication – the shorthand for which is IP resolution.
	The IP resolution clauses in the Counter-terrorism and Security Bill will enable a device linked to an IP address to be identified in many circumstances. However further data, excluded by the provisions in this Bill, would be required to resolve them in all circumstances.

Economic and Monetary Union

Lord Higgins: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the operation of the Eurozone has had a positive effect on the United Kingdom economy.

Lord Deighton: As the Chancellor said at the Autumn Statement, Britain – as one of the most open trading economies in the world, with a large financial sector – is not immune to the risks of the global economy. This is particularly true of the euro area, the UK’s largest trading partner, which accounts for 40 percent of exports.
	While significant steps have been taken by the euro area to place itself on a more sustainable footing, its economy weakened in the second half of 2014, with inflation extremely low and unemployment stubbornly high.

Entry Clearances: Israel

Lord Warner: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 15 December (HL3643), whether they will consider placing persons on their watchlist where they hold evidence of them undertaking, permitting or financing illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Lord Bates: It is long-standing policy not to discuss information held on watch lists as to do so would not be in the interests of border and national security.
	The Government takes a range of measures to prevent foreign nationals from coming to, or remaining in, the UK where their presence is not conducive to the public good. This includes excluding individuals whose presence in the UK is considered not to be conducive to the public good. These decisions are made according to the individual circumstances of each case.

Holiday Accommodation: Greater London

Baroness Gardner of Parkes: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 December (HL Deb, col 1593–6), when the report of the full consultation results in respect of the Deregulation Bill will be published.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 December (HL Deb, col 1593–6), which of the 32 London local authorities (1) were strongly against, (2) were not opposed to, and (3) supported, the proposals in clause 33 of the Deregulation Bill in their response to the consultation.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 December (HL Deb, col 1593–6), how they are ensuring that “all the points and concerns” raised by London local authorities will be covered in the guidelines and regulations relating to clause 33 of the Deregulation Bill.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Government has stated its clear intent to use the Deregulation Bill to help reform the outdated provisions of section 25 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973.
	Londoners who want to rent out their homes for less than 90 consecutive days, such as through a service like Airbnb, technically still have to pay to apply for planning permission from their council – something that does not apply anywhere else in the country. These provisions caused controversy during the 2012 Olympics, and are irregularly enforced by different London boroughs leading to confusion.
	We want to change this archaic system by giving Londoners the freedom to rent out their homes on a temporary basis, such as when they are on holiday, without having to deal with unnecessary red tape and
	the bureaucracy of paying of a municipal permit. The internet is changing the way we work and live, and the law needs to catch up.
	The measure will not allow homes to be turned into hotels or hostels – this would still require ‘change of use’ planning permission, and measures will be put in place to prevent abuse of such reforms or the permanent loss of residential accommodation.
	Such reforms will benefit London’s strong tourism industry by expanding the pool of competitively priced accommodation, and allow families to earn some extra cash when they themselves go away on holiday.
	Such reforms would follow changes introduced last year to make it easier for residents to rent out an unused home parking space to earn extra money, helping expand the availability of parking options for commuters and visitors.
	We are planning to publish the Government’s formal response to the consultation on the Review of Property Conditions in the Private Rented Sector; we will also publish details of our proposed approach to the detail of the underlying secondary legislation ahead of Lords Report debate on the enabling primary legislation.

Radicalism

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 16 December (HL3567), whether they will provide a comprehensive list of the “fundamental British Values” to which “vocal or active opposition” would be considered “extremism”.

Lord Bates: I refer the noble Lord to my previous answer (HL3567), in which I referred to fundamental British values including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

Voting Rights: Young People

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what examination they are giving to granting 16 and 17 year-olds votes in United Kingdom elections in the event of the Scottish Government reducing the voting age in Scotland to 16.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: There is no consensus within Government on the question of lowering the voting age for Westminster elections and therefore no plans to do so in this Parliament. However the Government welcomes the ongoing discussions and debates on this issue.